FCC May Be Disinclined Toward Additional Oversight of Cable Broadband Pricing, Gallant Says

The FCC decline of a GAO recommendation that it step up oversight of usage-based pricing could signal “a strong disinclination by the Chairman toward any new FCC limits on cable broadband pricing,” said Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant in an email to investors Wednesday. The FCC’s rejection of GAO’s advice (see 1412020037) makes it seem likely that if the commission bases new net neutrality rules on Communications Act Title II, “the Wheeler-led FCC would do as much as it can to limit the risk of a shift toward greater pricing oversight by a future FCC,” Gallant said. “We continue to believe that reclassification of broadband as a Title 2 service -- should that happen -- would not make it more likely that a future FCC will in fact decide to regulate cable broadband prices.”